2019 Presidency: Nigeria’s economy in dire straits — EZEKWESILI

PRESIDENTIAL Candidate of Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, ACPN, Dr. Obi Ezekwesili, yesterday, described the daunting situation facing Nigeria as lack of leadership failure.
Dr. Oby Ezekwesili
Ezekwesili, who is co-founder of Transparency International, while Fielding questions from newsmen, said: “I have a disruptive mindset and I am not somebody that will use a flowery language to describe impossible solution a problem. The only reason you need leaders is for them to fix daunting problems. It is only when there is deficit of leadership, daunting problems persists.

“As a leader, there will be tough choices you will have to make all the time. The most important thing is to be on the right side. Nigeria’s economy is in dire strait as 87 million Nigerians are in the class of extreme poverty. We have overtaken India which are about over six times of our population. N69 of every N100 we earn as a nation goes into goes towards servicing debt. We need to tackle poverty as a problem.

“China has proved that with the right kind of leadership, policy, investment we can bring Nigerians out of poverty because they lifted 700 million Chinese out of poverty. So it is a clear indication that you can bring people out of poverty. The fastest way to tackle poverty is to provide jobs for people to earn income.”

While challenging other presidential candidates to come up with a debate to be scrutinised, the former Education Minister said: “I am open to be scrutinized in a debate because I am ready to hit the ground running.”